WVC 6 B- 2 - 3 A
§6B-2-3a. Complaints.
(a) The commission may commence an investigation, pursuant to
section four of this article, on the filing of a complaint duly
verified by oath or affirmation, by any person.

(b) The commission may order the executive director to prepare
a complaint, upon a majority affirmative vote of its members, if it
receives or discovers credible information which, if true, would
merit an inquiry into whether a violation of this article has
occurred.

(c) (1) No complaint may be accepted or initiated by the
commission against a public official or public employee during the
sixty days before a primary or general election at which the public
official or public employees is a candidate for elective office.

(2) If a complaint is pending against a public official or
public employee who is also a candidate for public office, then the
commission shall stay the processing of the complaint for the sixty
day time period preceding the primary election or general election,
or both, unless the candidate waives the stay in writing. If the
commission receives a written waiver of the stay at least sixty
days prior to the election, and if the Review Board has not yet
ruled whether probable cause exists to believe there has been a
violation of the Ethics Act, then the Review Board will process the
complaint and make a probable cause determination at least thirty
days prior to the election: Provided, That, the stay provisions of
this subdivision do not apply to complaints which have already been adjudicated by the commission and are pending on appeal.

(3) For purposes of this subsection, any provisions of this
chapter setting time periods for initiating a complaint or for
performing any other action are considered tolled until after the
election at which the public official or public employee candidate
stands for elective office.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.